A story today in the Indian press hints that India's offshore arsenal could get more powerful through relatively cheap broadband. Business-standard.com reports that the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has picked a group of companies to extend broadband services to each village in the state with a minimum bandwidth of 2 megabits per second.

Project promoters have indicated domestic broadband connections will cost about $2.30 a month, according to the news organization.

India-based operations already have an advantage when it comes to low wages for programmers. Low-cost, high-bandwidth connections to homes could conceivably add to the benefits of offshoring to India. Indian techies might be happier and more productive if given the chance to telecommute. And telecommuting could allow companies to save on facilities expenses.

On the other hand, new data security concerns might arise if Indian programmers or call center workers handle tasks from their kitchen tables.